BALCO attorney invokes "Libby" for leniency
By Nicole Belle Tuesday Jul 10, 2007 3:50pmYou knew it was coming...yup, Republicans really embrace the "rule of law", don't they?
An attorney who admitted leaking the confidential grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds to the media in the BALCO case, asked a federal judge for leniency yesterday in San Francisco, noting that President Bush commuted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence for a similar crime.
In doing so, Troy Ellerman joins a growing a list of defendants across the country who have made the same arguments for leniency since Bush said the former vice presidential aide's 2½ -year sentence for leaking the name of a CIA operative was too harsh and commuted it to probation and a fine.
Ellerman's invocation of Libby's case was part of a much larger court filing arguing for a prison sentence of 15 months, rather than the two years federal prosecutors are seeking.
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Wow, someone should have asked bush what kind of precedent he was setting. surely not one that fits with the 'tough on crime' rethugs.
Good job herr duubyah!! You once again take the side of criminals and criminality!!
Bush and his cronies want the the citizens to revolt. It will allow them to institute Marshall Law, allow them to cancel the constitution and will allow them to implement dictatorial rule.
I'm just sayin'.
I can practically hear my 14 year-old invoking "Libby" next time I ground him! That'll be too bad because I'll have to slap the snot out of him on prinicipal alone.
Ah, the legendary iron fist of the Republican 'tough on crime' crew.
did clinton's pardons create any new legal defences??
Barrett D @ 6:
the republicans will want us to think so until it happens to a democrat again ( I am a member of neither one of these talent/will/potential/political capitol draining machines)
Balco's doing this?
Bronson Pinchot from Perfect Strangers?
Rethugs don't believe any laws, courts, or jury judgments pertain to their serious crimes.
Perfect. Mass murders will be invoking Libby. Guys who chop off the heads of hundreds of nuns will be pulling Libby out of the box. Oh, yuronner, I had a terrible headache and I just had to hatchet 675 nuns, well, you know because and, anyway, the conviction should be commuted because Libby helped make a war that killed most of a million people so far and even the president said his sentence for lying about the lies they told for war was too much.
So there, if Libby's lies killed most of a million and I only hatched 675 nuns to death, I should get a commutation and a coupon from Amazon.
Hope the Balco dude isn't counting on a Bush pardon. W. is on the record as a strong opponent of steroid use in baseball. He even mentioned it in a state of the union address IIRC.
Bush: Tough on baseball cheats. Lax on treason.
Joementum @ 11:
LOL!
That's would be a great sign to take to a baseball game.
Joementum @ 11:
But what would happen if it was his team? ;)
This guy's lawyers are using the Libby case as precedent in their appeal.
http://www.wbbm780.com/pages/671509.php?contentType=4&contentId=681510
Holy crap, if anyone is Tivoing CNN check it out...Wolf Blitzer just gave Gen Kevin Bergner a TOTAL softball question setting up Michael Moore. He let the General get away with claiming that Moore's statement (that FDR confronted the Axis in less time than it's taken to secure the road to the Baghdad airport) was no longer relevant, that the road is secure and used by unarmed civilians.
NO follow-up...sure, Iraqis can travel it unarmed, CAN HE? IT'S NOT A SECURE ROAD.
Moore really got under Wolf's skin, good for him. I don't think Wolf is the devil incarnate or anything, but he needs to answer tough questions like everyone else in the political arena.
AC
But what would happen if it was his team?
"Sorrry you got caught - have a nice vacation. There will be a little (lot) something in your payheck and thanks for all you have done and will do for me". ;)
heh, heh, heh!
Sentenced for *leaking*? Huh, i thought it was for lying and obstruction of justice. But, whatever.
Michael Moore hates the troops.
And he's selling classified secrets to the Iranians.
Blitzer licks so much Bush Cult genitalia that he has to get skin graphs on his tongue six times a year.
Blitzer is pathetic. A dog.
.
Targa @ 12:
President Bush's place in history can be summed up with a single asterisk (the Vonnegut kind).
But is this really a similar crime? Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for obscuring who leaked Plame's name. Not for committing the leak. Different crime entirely. Seems the lawyer is more like Rove and/or Cheney. In which case he should be claiming that laws don't apply to him.
Who can blame them for giving it a try? If I was in jail on that charge, I would.
Lady Bird Johnson has died.
Andy (comment 15) the general said Iraqis drive the road but he didn't say if they live to get to where they are going.
Who was Bush trying to emulate on this anyway? Churchill, Lincoln, Truman? I'm trying to figure out how this action contributes to his legacy that he's determined will have him joining such august company.
hadenuf @ 18:
Did you run out of foil?
I cannot tell a lie,
...dumbya made me do it.
I told my girl friend after she caught me with those three porn stars that ANY punishment she thought I should get was too harsh, based on Bush's commuting Scooter Libby's sentence!
Then, I told my boss, the $180,000 I embezzeled from company funds really was not a crime, because somebody else probably stoled some other money first? Kind of like Armitage outed Flame first?
And, the fact I murdered six nuns the other days was NOT really bad, because, since they were bound to die someday anyway, there was no real underlying crime?
Damn, it's really fun to be a Republican!
tough on crime? yeah, right.
hadenuf @ 18:
He also personally killed Santa Claus AND the Easter Bunny!
Plus, I suspect he's really an advanced Vogan scout mapping the galactic bypass through the earth! (of course, George Soros is funding the whole galactic highway system, don't cha know!)
Bush/neocon rule of thumb...
Laws?...Laws are for peons... Great decidererers can't be bothered.... Now the coffee breaks over... Everyone! Back to your headstands..... Yes, we know you're all standing in four feet of shit... WE DON'T CARE!!!!!
sincerely yours, Dick Cheney, George Bush and all of us fun loving overseers here in the WH.......JD
I'd follow that tack too, and add the Gonzales defence as well: "I don't even recall leaking anything in the first place. C'mon judge. Leniency; free me!"
WashStateBlue @ 28:
Of course, next he's coming to your neighbourhood to get you and your family. No one on the planet is safe while Michael Moore roams free. No one!! Run. Hide. Fear!
The "Libby Defense". Gee, thanks Republican party.
You could call it "The Twinkie Defense," but that's been taken.
Barrett D @ 1:
Precedent is for suckers. See recent supreme court opinion.
"Ellerman joins a growing a list of defendants across the country who have made the same arguments for leniency"
Do you mean in ADDITION to the growing list of defendants who are appealing their cases on the grounds that the U.S. Prosecutors appointed by Bush were a bunch of political hacks?
It's official. These leaders are examples to the American people, not to mention the world; We no longer have to obey the law. Period.
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